POEM A DAY 2019

Caribbean natural music blends
into polychromatic colors, sound and light

motor engines mingle
with lapping upper octave waves

birds in flight & ghost notes hum
trap bass beats from a pimped out car

pra-pra-cata versus Marc Anthony's wao
booming from a jukebox at the local bar

joda que se joda contra la corriente
la noche viene

on the malecón / home away from home playa breezes
smell salty sweet & blues layer in deep formations

pink and orange watercolor-brushed wind chimes
singing coquis mixed into the underpainting of

a picture perfect
postcard

on our block, a green-eyed gray tabby meows under a crescent moon, the black dog with a floppy ear points its tail straight in the air sniffs into the eyes of his friend, a brown horse from down the road

sky full of sunset's distant clouds
hover on the ocean's horizon

against a lonely silhouette
un viejito walking from the beach to his barrio

in the same red tee shirt and the same baseball cap
he wore yesterday

walking after a long day of work
pidiendo chavo en la playa

Posted by La Poeta Mariposa January 24, 2019

El Charco Hondo Flo

Tropical waterfall / rush
late afternoon light flickers / wanes warm
poetic gentle hush currents dance
el río flows from the mountains of Adjuntas
says how you like my flo and my beautiful sister swims so free and happy
ella es un poema hoy en un gran río de aguas verdes y claras
con luces como una bailarina en el agua
una hija de esta tierra preciosa

January 14, 2019
Río Grande de Arecibo

Posted by La Poeta Mariposa January 23, 2019

New Year's Rooftops

A home without a roof
is not a home when you can't live in it and cannot return
and in Puerto Rico / 16 months after Maria
almost a quarter of a million homes remain without roofs

What is it to be displaced in the tens of thousands
from an island devastated by category 5 hurricane winds?
What is it when an paper towel throwing clown from downtown still swears only 16 people died, and now says he won't give a dime?
more / over says la casa blanca / the money will go to fund a border wall
more than 3,000 deaths are just a drop in the bucket to a fascist regime
every time it rains it pours / from bad to worse / what is it but violence?

And it goes on but we choose action instead of being mystified / to serve community / serve as your own / claim it as yours / and it reminds you what is possible when you see hardworking working class college students / young / wild and free give their time / their hands to help Puerto Rican families know:

You are not alone / we will be a part of solutions
not optimistic New Year's resolutions
building roofs one roof at a time / we got your back
to keep families in Puerto Rico
and bring Puerto Rican families back
we are back
and we will return.

#CUNYServes
#PuertoRico
#SCPR19 #PostMaria

Posted by La Poeta Mariposa January 23, 2019

El Charco Azul

When I think of the sweet waters
that day, I'll remember these things:

La naturaleza / Borinken's
music / sweet nature / on the path
of our own adventure / arriving / living
young, wild and free with happy heartbeats
and happy tears / los azules / rivers
emociones

When I think of the sweet waters
that day, I will remember our joyful hearts
team building / making sandwiches together the night before
that Kenny was the first to get in the water
that Melissa was the first to jump
Alex saying, people do you realize how hot I take my showers?
that swimming into the
pure cold cold cold / healed us
los azules enriched with minerals
los azules crystal clear / sweet rivers
washing away aches, pains, fears
pensive moments
when I think of the sweet waters
I'll always want to return

I'll think of Lyvette's laughter
Li's yoga pose
Soreily's spirit
Jeffrey's smiles
appreciating it all
I'll think of taking selfies
with Gabby and Sharvia
above the waterfall
climbing over the rocks with Orlando
Yadira's call to explore
Elijah's white flip flops
Marie and Abu
helping Stephanie and me
clear the waters / scooping up
all the potatoe chips that fell
and fanned out
protecting los azules adentro y pa fuera
trying our best to leave it better than
how we found it
how we didn't wanna leave
how being with young people
keeps you young and is something to cherish always
I'll think of my talk with Tashi over lunch
and the way Deron's Caribbean blooded gaze detected
the depth of the water / the instinct of where to dive in
and where not
and that Andres saved a local boy
from drowning
and thought no one
noticed

January 13, 2019
Patillas, Puerto Rico

Posted by La Poeta Mariposa January 23, 2019

Madre Tierra

The future looms ferocious
on this raging Earth and we hold on to la madre tierra
scream for climate justice
our bodies bare and fragile
against the surge
woosh shhhh
woosh shhh

Scream for climate justice
for our bodies bare and fragile
for the most vulnerable
along coastline
for the poorest
woosh shhhh
woosh shhh
shhh

Scream as they build
work live play condos in flood zones
develop / displace / gentrify
wash rinse repeat
woosh shhhh
woosh shhh
shhh
repeat
shhh
repeat
shhh

Scream for the shrinking polar caps
for the chunks of life melting
into rising seas

Hold on madre tierra
hold on
repeat
shhh
repeat
shhh

Scream for climate justice
for the mountain people
repeat
shhh
repeat
shhh
for the children inheriting
an uninhabitable earth
scream
rage
feel something

Posted by La Poeta Mariposa January 23, 2019

Bronxland Beautiful

My nature loving
heart was born inside of this Bronxland
beauty

Cradled between whispering rivers
salty ocean and blue sky
in between sirens and starling song
Bronxstrong / wind in my bones
brick colored breeze in my blood
long searches for nature
only footsteps away
to writing poetry by the Bronx River
meditating in the silent cosmos
Woodlawn Cemetary in the spring
surrounds itself and blossoms with pink blossoms
dogwoods and cherry blossoms

You cannot paint away this beauty with stigma,
bury it in stereotypes, cloud it with Fort Apache smoke

There was that too
smoke for days and in my 1970s childhood
there was also the river where my Earth Goddess grandmother
held my hand to lead me home time after time

Posted by La Poeta Mariposa January 23, 2019

Prayer for Poets with Broken Hearts

Today's poem is a prayer
for poets with broken hearts

ay it hurts to live
to be alive
sometimes

there are moments when i wanna numb myself
numb myself and not feel a damn thing
fly high and not mind the passing of time or damage done
but it's pointless to be alive and numb
an oxymoron / no pun
intended

today i may hurt
grieve
feel afraid
or indulge in the rage
i'm entitled dammit
tired of being taken for a damn fool
and the bitter taste in my spit
rude wake up calls
hurricane aftermaths that rip away facades
what prove to be false
reveal fresh roots and bonds
shockwaves shipwrecks
remind me
it hurts to live
to be alive
sometimes

i am alive
i hurt
i love
and still i'm alive

today's poem is
a prayer for poets
who walk
and live with broken hearts
like me who stand as
i face the sun
through my tears

thank you so much
for the hurt

Posted by La Poeta Mariposa January 23, 2019

Claridad

Only in Puerto Rico
have I seen butterflies by the sea
burn in the mystic vibrations of Chango's tears
and the fire spirits of caciques & cacicas

only in Puerto Rico
where in Orocovis
deep deep in the mountains / in the heart
in the thunderous neverending echoes of countless coquis
under the new moon Boricua sky
waxing into full luna shining against naked planets and stars
illuminating my blackest night

I hear my mother's voice
clear as day.

Posted by La Poeta Mariposa January 23, 2019

Mar Bella Morning

Mar
bella
morning

las nubes de enero
floating
flo flo flotando
que lindo dia
paz
calm
with my sister
knowing the breeze like my own breath

the definition of my spanglish sanity
lies in this grain of sand
in this gentle wave
in this gentle ocean
who draws us into her soft arms
on this winter day / today the waters are peaceful
and we swim one more swim before having to leave this island again
this beautiful sea
this melody / tan preciosa

- 1/19/2019 Vega Baja